Laptop Repair Engineer Jailed After Sting Operation

A laptop engineer who was caught snooping on the private contents of a computer he was meant to be repairing has been jailed for nine months.

The harsh penalty was dished out to Grzegorz Zachodni who was caught red handed by a Sky News sting operation into the underhand behaviour of laptop repair shops.

The laptop was taken by a Sky reporter to Laptop Repairs in Hammersmith with a simple memory error created to prevent the laptop from starting up. However, it was fitted with software that would activate the webcam, record the footage and log every keystroke.

Sure enough, while the simple memory problem was quickly discovered, the shop then phoned the reporter to say that the motherboard was faulty and that it would cost £100 to repair.

Zachodni the proceeded to rifle through the contents of the hard disk, discovering a planted folder called Private that contained images of the Sky reporter in a bikini. This was first shown to a colleague and the contents then copied over to a memory stick.

Also discovered was the details of a fake bank account, which Zachodni attempted to access several times, along with Facebook and eBay logins.

Having fallen for the sting hook, line, and sinker, Sky News then handed the evidence over to the police.

Zachondi pleaded guilty to fraud on 7 July at West London Magistrate’s Court and was sentenced to nine months in prison.

The police released a statement in which DC Chris Young said: "Hopefully this conviction will be a warning to the computer repair industry that the copying or use of customer’s private and personal information is not acceptable and the Metropolitan Police Economic and Specialist Crime Directorate will endeavour to prosecute any person found to have committed offences regarding these abuses."